Making the Grade

One of the fabulous things about working here at Inspire2Learn is the range of people that you get to meet at such a diverse range of events. The Children’s University graduation is a great example of this as the couple of hundred children who passed through our doors for their graduation ceremonies brought along an entourage of proud parents, carers, grandmas, grandads and so on. We are used to having the children here for various events from time and time, and we work with them in their classrooms ALL the time, but it is always fabulous to see their wider family coming along to support them in their learning. The graduation took place over two nights and rewarded children for their participation in out of school, extra curricula activities. The hours that each child puts into their various clubs are totted up and result in various levels of award. Many of the children take part in different clubs on different days and the most highly ‘decorated’ of them had achieved over 700 hours of extra curricula activity. That is almost two hours a day for a whole year. The graduation ceremony is an opportunity to celebrate those achievements as well as inspiring others to take part. There are Children’s Universities all around the country (around the world in fact now) and the number of clubs and societies that are accredited, registered for their ‘hours’ to count, is growing day by day. Anybody can be accredited, they simply need to register themselves with their local Children’s University and undergo a short assessment interview.

As you can see from the pictures, the children had a really special experience, one that showed them that resilience and stickability results in achieving things they probably never thought possible. There were definitely some nervous giggles as the size of the audience, the enormity of the situation and the fact that their hats kept falling off kept them very much on their toes. It is really clear from the event that lots of children and families really value the recognition that the Children’s University gives them and in a world where motivation and aspiration are often in short supply we will continue to support a strategy that makes a difference.